Tonight marks the beginning of the Christmas season as the Conservatory of Music hosts the first performance of its 83rd annual Christmas Festival
celebration. The event will feature four total performances from well over 200 singers who are members of the Chapel Choir, Choral Union, Women’s Chorus, Chordsmen, and Philomel along with a variety of instrumentalists from the Conservatory and the Columbus communities; making it the largest arts event to be held on campus each and every year.
Founded by Ellis E. Snyder in 1928, the Capital University Christmas Festival has grown to become one of Columbus’ fondest Christmas traditions. In response to increasing popularity, the event has historically been held at various venues across the city including Veterans Memorial Hall on East Broad Street and the prestigious Ohio Theatre downtown. However, it was brought back to campus in the early 1990s in favor of Mees Hall’s more intimate environment and remarkable acoustics.
The concerts will include readings of poetry, prose, and scripture, interspersed with choral music and unified by this years theme “Glad Tidings of Great Joy.”
“This year’s theme was inspired by the spontaneous joy and response we received last summer during Chapel Choir’s eleven day tour of South Africa,” Dr. Lynda Hasseler, director of the Christmas Festival, said. “It is our goal to share this same joy with our audience, who can expect to smile, laugh, sing, and possibly even cry while in attendance this weekend.”
“This event is the highlight of my year,” Junior Vocalist Austin Young said. “It brings together the nostalgia of my favorite season with the passion of music.”
Sophomore vocalist Alissa Ruth agreed adding, “All of our hard work is manifested through this powerful celebration and I’m proud to be a part of it.”
The festival’s director of percussion, Professor Eric Paton, remembers being involved with the show as a student and is glad to be able to share the event with all of his students.
“The Christmas Festival perpetuates a long standing sense of community associated with it; giving the audience and performers, who might otherwise be strangers, a sense of reunion and coming-home,” Patton said.
Dean of the Conservatory, Dr. Rocky Reuter, is also proud pf the tradition.
“The annual Christmas Festival represents the Conservatory’s standard of excellence in which we strive to maintain,” Reuter said.
This year’s show premieres at 7:30p.m., followed by performances Friday and Saturday at the same time and a fourth and final performance Sunday at 3:30p.m. However, getting ahold of tickets might prove to be a challenge as the box office has all but sold out the event.
